Minato Namikaze
Minato Namikaze (波風ミナト, Namikaze Minato), renowned as Konoha's Yellow Flash (木ノ葉の黄色い閃光, Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō; English TV "Yellow Flash of the Leaf"), was a legendary shinobi who became the'Fourth Hokage' (四代目火影, Yondaime Hokage; Literally meaning "Fourth Fire Shadow") ofKonohagakure. Background When Minato was in the Academy, his class-mate and future wife Kushina Uzumaki thought that he looked "unreliable" and even "girly".[2] He dreamed of being acknowledged by the Konoha villagers by becoming the Hokage, which Kushina considered to be an impossible dream for someone like him.Years later, however, when Kushina was kidnapped by Kumogakure ninja, Minato was the only one to pick up on the fact that she was leaving behind strands of her red hair to mark their path. After rescuing her, Minato explained that he had always admired her hair. No longer seeing him as "unreliable", she fell in love with him.According to those who knew him personally, Minato was a very talented ninja prodigy — a rare genius that appeared only once in a generation.[5] He graduated from the Academy at the age of ten,[1] and was added to a genin team under the tutelage of Jiraiya,[6] who took a special interest in Minato, and took him on as an apprentice,[7] amongst other things teaching him the Summoning Technique.[8] He even believed Minato might be the Child of the Prophecy, someone who would someday save the world.In time, Minato was put in charge of a genin team of his own, consisting of Rin Nohara, Obito Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake.[6] During the Third Shinobi World War, Minato led his team on a mission intoKusagakure to destroy the Kannabi Bridge. Because Kakashi had recently become a jōnin, Minato gave leadership of the mission to Kakashi while he went to help Konoha's forces on the front lines. After meeting up with the surviving and out-numbered Konoha ninja, Minato used his Flying Thunder God Technique to kill the opposing Iwagakure ninja. He then returned to his team, just in time to save Kakashi and Rin from another group of Iwa forces, but was too late to save Obito. When Kakashi and Rin recovered from the ordeal, Minato helped them complete the mission.Before becoming Hokage, Minato clashed with A on several occasions.[12] On what was seemingly their first meeting, Minato,Inuzuka, Akimichi, and a fourth member, confronted A and his team. There, Minato and A had a clash of speed with Minato almost severely injuring the future Raikage before B intercepted the attack. Upon receiving the signal that Konoha was retreating for the time being, Minato lingered to praise B's bravery and told A that he had a good family and followers surrounding him as he did, and also offered A the advice of making sure his brother knew who he was before he became neither human nor jinchūriki. Minato then declared that the next time they met, it would be to put the title of "Kage" on the line.[13] Not one to allow his enemy to escape so easily, A attempted to attack Minato before he left. Believing that Minato would teleport to one of his special kunai, A was shocked to see the Konoha-nin appear behind his brother before realising that Minato had marked him earlier. Impressed by the fact that B had reacted fast enough to pull one of his swords on him, Minato praised B for his skills.Sometime after the war, Minato, not yet thirty years of age, was chosen to become the Fourth Hokage.[15] At some point during his reign, Minato taught his signature technique to the Hokage Guard Platoon to better aid them in their duties of serving the Hokage at any given time.[16] While Kushina was pregnant, he read Jiraiya's first book and liked the main character's determination — whom he believed to be just like Jiraiya — decided to name their son "Naruto" in the hopes that he would be just like the main character and, in turn, Jiraiya. Jiraiya warned them that it would make him Naruto's godfather, but they insisted that this was a good thing.Because Kushina was the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, special arrangements had to be made for Naruto's birth. Since the seal keeping the Nine-Tails within her would weaken during childbirth, Naruto would be secretly delivered in a remote location outside Konoha. ANBU would guard the area and Minato would maintain the seal while Kushina went into labour. Soon after Naruto was born they were found by a masked man who had killed the ANBU stationed outside and infiltrated the cave. The masked ninja killed Biwako Sarutobi and Taji then took Naruto hostage, threatening to do the same to him. Minato was able to take Naruto back, but this gave his opponent the chance to escape with Kushina to break the seal. By the time Minato found a safe place to put Naruto and then teleported to Kushina, he spirited her to safety just as the freed Nine-Tails was about to kill her. With Kushina looking after Naruto, Minato heads to Konoha to defend it from the Nine-Tails.Minato arrived in the early stages of the Nine-Tails' attack. After protecting the village from the beast's Tailed Beast Ball by erecting a barrier and sending the attack elsewhere, Minato tried to reach theThird Hokage to inform him of what had happened, but was stopped by the masked man, who tried to warp him away. However, Minato flew to another of his kunai, and was quickly followed by his opponent. Analysing his opponent, Minato came to assume that the man standing before him was Madara Uchiha, which he discarded by saying that Madara was dead. When the two began fighting, Minato realised that the battle would be decided by speed, and by carefully timing his Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato was able to strike the masked man with a Rasengan and apply the Flying Thunder God Technique seal on his back as well. This allowed him to teleport directly to the masked ninja and uses a Contract Seal to sever the ninja's hold on the Nine-Tails before he could escape.When Minato returned to the ruined village, he summoned Gamabuntato hold down the Nine-Tails long enough to teleport it away from the village to Naruto and Kushina's location. Kushina then restrained it with her chakra chains and erected a barrier so that the beast could not escape. Despite knowing that the trauma of resealing the Nine-Tails in her weakened body would kill her, she volunteered to do it so the Nine-Tails would die with her. Minato however disagreed, and instead decided that he would use the Dead Demon Consuming Sealon the Nine-Tails to seal the beast into Naruto. Kushina objected since this would mean Minato's death and leave Naruto orphaned. Minato insisted it was for the best since allowing the Nine-Tails to resurrect itself, without a jinchūriki to contain it, would inevitably cause harm to Konoha and theFire Country. Also, Minato was convinced that Naruto was the "Child of the Prophecy" Jiraiya had once told him about and would need the Nine-Tails' power to someday defeat the masked man. Knowing that the Nine-Tails' chakra was too immense to seal inside an infant, Minato used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal weaken the demon by removing the Yin chakra, sealing the half inside Minato himself. The Nine-Tails realised their intentions and tried to kill Naruto, but Minato and Kushina used their bodies to shield him.While Kushina gave her final words to Naruto, Minato summonedGerotora, gave him the key to the seal he would use on Naruto, and sent him to Jiraiya. After Kushina told Naruto how much his parents loved him he seconds everything she says and then sealed the Nine-Tails and the rest of their chakra into Naruto so that they would be able to see him again when he was older, ending their lives.[21] Since the Third Hokage had come to help, Minato used his last moments to request that Konoha think of Naruto as a hero, and not the container of the monster that caused so much death and destruction.[22]Before he died, he sealed the rest of their remaining chakra into Naruto so that they could someday see him again too, specifically if ever the seal was about to break so that they could restore it, or help him control Nine-Tails' power.[23][24] Ultimately, Minato's reign as the Hokage was rather short, as Tsunade noted that he "died too early". Abilities According to Jiraiya, Minato was one of the most gifted shinobi who ever lived[25] and was also believed to be one of the strongest shinobi that ever existed. His abilities were so far advanced that even the Fourth Raikage thought that no one would be able to surpass him.[12] Anko Mitarashi, in discussion with the Third Hokageabout Orochimaru's immense strength and his threat to the village, stated that she wished the Fourth had been alive to face him.[38] At a young age, he was able to single-handedly rescue Kushina Uzumakifrom three Kumogakure ninja.[39] During the Third Shinobi World War, flee-on-sight orders were given to enemy shinobi should they ever see him appear on the battlefield.[40] Minato was also capable of counteracting the Nine-Tails' attacks to the point that Tobi found it necessary to intervene and stop Minato directly. Tobi was later forced to retreat due to being severely injured by Minato. He even complimented Minato and stated he was worthy of his title of "Fourth Hokage".Minato s' fighting style often excluded time consuming hand seals that give enemies an opening so he often relies on two techniques :the Flying Thunder God Technique and the Rasengan.Minato spent three years creating the Rasengan by observing theTailed Beast Ball.[49][50] It is the highest level of shape transformation and it does not require hand signs to be performed. Instead, using precise control of one's chakra to concentrate and spin it, forming a sphere in the user's palm. It is able to inflict immense damage to its target upon contact. The lack of elaborate preparations needed for the Rasengan gave Minato an advantage over other technique users in battle. During his fight with Tobi, he is able to form a Rasengan right after throwing his marked kunai, allowing Minato to land a devastating blow immediately after performing the Flying Thunder God Technique. As its creator, Minato had great mastery over the Rasengan, able to form it in either hand and even make it larger than the Rasengan of other characters (roughly the size of the Big Ball Rasengan).Minato was famous for his use of the Flying Thunder God Technique, later even gaining praise from Tobirama Senju, the creator of this technique, for his superior usage. It is a space–time technique applied through the use of special seals, which essentially allowed him to teleport to any location with untraceable movements. By throwing kunai that had the seal attached to them behind enemy lines, Minato could wipe out an entire platoon in the blink of an eye.[52] Minato could teleport to his special kunai even as it travelled through the air, through this method, he was able to outmanoeuvre Tobi's Kamui.[53] He was also capable of applying the seal to solid surfaces with his bare hand, allowing him to tag opponents and give himself an easy way to track and reach them.[54] He also incorporated this seal formula into Kushina's seal so he could always come to her aid, at any time.[55] Minato is also capable of transporting multiple people to different markings simultaneously.For defensive use, Minato was capable of implementing space–time barriers to counter large attacks such as a Tailed Beast Ball, sending the blast to a distant area away from the village.[57] He was later even able to warp away a Tailed Beast Ball of larger proportions created by the Ten-Tails,[58]and was able to teleport things even as large as the Nine-Tails itself, albeit at the cost of a large portion of his chakra due to the beast's immense size.[59] By working in conjunction with another Flying Thunder God user, he can instantly swap places with said person and any enemy they bring along, in order to allow attacks to connect with the target.In his youth, Jiraiya taught Minato how to use the Summoning Technique to summon toads. He was able to summon Gamabunta, showing considerably large reserves of chakra in doing so, and was one of the few people that Gamabunta would willingly cooperate without hesitation.[63] He could use the Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique for a devastating surprise attack that could even pin powerful large targets like the Nine-Tails down.Minato was shown to be very intuitive and clever from a young age. Of the many ninja sent out to save Kushina from her Kumogakure kidnappers, Minato was the only one to notice the trail of hair she was leaving.[39] After seeing a technique once, he could correctly deduce the basic mechanics behind it, such as the strengths and weaknesses of Kakashi's Chidori.[64] During difficult events, he was still capable of maintaining his composure, assessing the situation, and devising appropriate plans of action. During his skirmish against Tobi, he was able to determine that his opponent didn't want to drag on their fight as he could not keep Kurama summoned for very long, as well as quickly ascertain a method of counter-attacking. Using this information, he was able to take advantage of Tobi's haste to not only wound him, but also remove his control over the beast as well.Minato could detect the presence of people within an area by simply placing his finger on the ground.[67] Minato was also skilled in transferring chakra and could even adapt it to another person's own chakra, as seen when he placed some of Kushina's and his own chakra within Naruto so that they could see him when he was older, and assist him in dealing with Kurama.[68][69] He is also adept at using barrier ninjutsu, capable of erecting a Kage-calibre barrier powerful enough to trap the Ten-Tails.[70] He can also use the Shadow Clone Technique.One of Minato's trademark attributes was his immense speed and acute reflexes, able to react fast enough to catch an infant Naruto mid-fall to prevent him from being stabbed by Tobi.[43] Combined with his great proficiency in the Body Flicker Technique, he could easily react and reach in time an ally to save them from enemy attacks.[44] He could also respond to Tobi's Kamui technique quickly enough to escape it.[45] He is often referred to throughout the series as the fastest shinobi who ever lived, with the speed of the currently fastest living shinobi often being compared to his own, such as A or Naruto in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, with the former admitting that even with his Lightning Release Armour enhancing his already immense speed and reflexes was still outmatched by Minato.When fighting, he mainly employed the use of his unique kunai, wielding them proficiently and taking advantage of their particular form, which made them even more suitable for close range combat than standard kunai. Using this type of kunai, he was able to nearly sever one of the Eight-Tails' tentacles when B moved to save his brother from Minato's counter-attack despite having nearly no leverage, showing that he possessed a great deal of strength.[46] Minato's skills are such that he received praise from the other Kage, including Tobirama Senju, who is also capable of using the Flying Thunder God Technique,[47] as Minato was not only able to arrive on the battlefield in time to deflect an enemy attack, but he was also able to mark the battlefield, enabling the other Hokage to take immediate action upon their arrival.Minato was very knowledgeable in fūinjutsu, which is due partially to Kushina teaching him some of the Uzumaki clan's unique sealing techniques.[60] He could perform the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to seal opponents at the cost of his own soul being sealed as well. However, he was fully aware that he could not completely seal all of the Nine-Tails' chakra within the death god. Minato could also perform a seal to remove an opponent's control over the respective creature brought by the Summoning Technique.One of the greatest examples of his prowess with fūinjutsu is the seal used on Naruto to make him a jinchūriki, placing two Four Symbols Seal to create the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, which would allow small amounts of the Nine-Tails' chakra to leak out and naturally mix with Naruto's own.